Can’t fault you for opening the show exactly the same way as the way they did in real life. This was just purely a hit. Mankind/Austin tore the house down, and the character work of the longer Austin here, being ungrateful and starting a brawl with Undertaker as well was awesome.
“YOU GUBBA DOB” is all I really think about when Ahmed Johnson starts chanting you’re going down. Anyway, solid segment here with Ahmed ready to be back and Faarooq not being content with Monsoon’s decision making. A fine segment for this feud to kick start again now Ahmed is back.. PS, please don’t have Ahmed join the nation.
Thumbs up for Shawn Michaels not being at Raw tonight. Sells the importance of Jose Lothario so when Michaels’ comes back next week he can be pissed.
Furnas and LaFon continuing their momentum from SS with another win here is the right thing to do. The tag champs watching on says we’ve got a ready made match here for when you’re ready to pull the trigger. Considering the new team has only just debuted, Owen and Bulldog saying they need to earn it could be a fun angle to explore for awhile. Also thumbs up, because as much as Fake Diesel and Razor were average, at least they were an actual team. Much better choice of opponents than Holly and Cassidy.
Much like the above, capitalizing on his momentum with another win here for The Rock is the right thing to do. The little moment there with Triple H and Perfect has me excited, even if they probably won’t be capable of having a high class match which each other for another three years.
Backlund cutting a promo on Sunny’s lifestyle is amazing. More big words from Backlund please. Sunny winning here in the karate fighters tournament is good because we all want to see Sunny vs. Sable.
Glad you put Billy over Bart here. Definitely the guy with a bigger future in this BTB. A reverse on the potential injury angle they ran in real life by the looks of things? Hopefully you actually follow up on it, not like IRL.
Can’t complain with closing the show with Sid. Promo pretty similar to real life, recapping SS and then focusing in on Bret. Am obviously really intrigued by the appearance of the Bulldog here demanding a title shot. Probably doesn’t have a lot of merit at this point, but it’s certainly different.
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A win here has me hopeful you’ll do something with Flash Funk. Character isn’t the best but the guy could go.
I remember thinking the Rumble at the Alamo was such a terrible decision haha. Anyway, clips from the announcement is fine. Key takeouts are that Shawn will get his title rematch, and the little dig from Bret at Shawn has my attention.
Crush squashing Taylor is fine. What I gathered here is based off the comments, he could be the first obstacle for Ahmed to overcome on the path to getting hands on Faarooq.
Owens promo was solid enough, hyping tag title feud as well as upcoming match with Bret.
I love these little rapid fire promos hyping future matches. Bret/Bulldog on Raw should be fun.
The Sultan squash. Meh. Didn’t like character, and Rikishi never really delivered as a heel. With that being said, the WWE never really explored some of the stuff you could do with Sheik and Backlund. Hoping you do something fun in this space.
Forgot how many debuts were happening around this time. Headbangers should be a solid addition as opposed to the tag teams that dominated the scene in most of 96.
I can’t remember if the tongueless thing was talked about in real life, or if you just added it in when it comes to The Sultant. Adds some mystique though which is a positive. I doubt Sultant gets in the IC title scene whilst Triple H is still champ.
The real question surrounding the main event is did with my baby tonight get a sing? That song equals ratings… A good win for JJ here really, even if it was a flash pin. The Stalker watching on adds some intrigue as well.
Raw and Superstars back in this time were still relatively tame, so it seems we won’t get a lot of “omg best show ever” in here for weeklies anytime soon. With that being said though, week one is off to a solid start, with all things touched on seemingly progressing well and in the right direction.